Historian, Former Ambassador, Human Rights Activist

The case of Khaled al-Maqtari

Amnesty International has made a fresh call on the United States government to make known the whereabouts of people subjected to its secret detention operation in the ‘war on terror’.

The call came as Amnesty International released a detailed 48-page report on the case of a Yemeni man held in total isolation by his US captors, including information on how he was allegedly severely tortured – with a battery of physical and psychological methods – and how he was moved from prison to prison in three different countries (including to a secret ‘black site’ detention facility) over a period of nearly three years.

The report also includes an account of how British ‘Special Forces’ personnel in Iraq were involved in investigating the detained man (though not in his interrogation or torture) and how these apparently did nothing to raise the alarm about the his torture at the hands of American interrogators.